[News] Calgary Flames sat down with the league to talk about penalties drawn on the team

[stang]

Originally Posted by GioforPM

He was a linesman. He was retiring in any event. ....

Holy hell, that doesn't make it ok

[Robbob]

The thing is that the flames never went public with this. It was a ref that let it slip. Even on the Tim and Sid show Burke never gave any indication or mention any bias. I think he went out of his way to downplay it and said it is on them (flames) to have better discipline. Publicly I think that is what they have to say, but you are right they obviously behind the scenes are bringing it up because they think there is something to it.

[Mr.Coffee]

Originally Posted by GioforPM

He was a linesman. He was retiring in any event.

You are right that they are human and can be affected by events. This tends to support the existence of an officiating bias. IMO it's not a conspiracy in that there's planning by a secret cabal. Or anything to do with Bettman. But the Flames simply do not get the benefit of favourable calls. And the fact that they are having meetings tells me it's real. There's no way they'd stick their necks out and have the meeting if they didn't feel strongly about it. Going public tells me they are at the end of their rope.

Hey I'm with you here insofar as a bias, as I think there's a bit of bias going on too. I'm not sure what the solution is either.

I'm just saying you could understand the refs or NHL's perspective. Also lol at the "he was retiring anyway". Oh so that makes it okay to send him off early and cause lasting injuries and health issues? What Wideman did was bizarre. Let's not forget he cross checked a guy for no reason. Who is the one back on the ice making millions here?

[GioforPM]

Originally Posted by stang

Holy hell, that doesn't make it ok

I like the quote where I said it wasOK.

I was just correcting a couple things which call the second hand story from the good friend into question. Anyway, I still don't think it was intentional.

[GioforPM]

Originally Posted by Mr.Coffee

Hey I'm with you here insofar as a bias, as I think there's a bit of bias going on too. I'm not sure what the solution is either.

I'm just saying you could understand the refs or NHL's perspective. Also lol at the "he was retiring anyway". Oh so that makes it okay to send him off early and cause lasting injuries and health issues? What Wideman did was bizarre. Let's not forget he cross checked a guy for no reason. Who is the one back on the ice making millions here?

Nothing in Wideman's history, before or after, make sure me think he would intentionally cross check a linesman.

And as I said above, "he was retiring anyway" was in specific reference to details in your friend's story about how Wideman "put the ref out of hockey". That didn't happen.

[Resolute 14]

^Actually, that very much did happen. Whether or not Henderson had 20 games left in his officiating career or 200, Wideman's hit ended it prematurely.

Originally Posted by lazypucker

Referees are like cops - you want them to catch criminals, but you hate their guts when they issue you a ticket....

Sure, except the referees are like cops in Cleveland and we're the black dude just trying to walk across the street in peace. Well... except Tkachuk. He's probably casing a bank to rob.

[stang]

Originally Posted by GioforPM

Nothing in Wideman's history, before or after, make sure me think he would intentionally cross check a linesman.

And as I said above, "he was retiring anyway" was in specific reference to details in your friend's story about how Wideman "put the ref out of hockey". That didn't happen.

He was retiring after that game? His plan was to retiree in chronic pain? Who knows maybe his plan was to go ref his grandsons league?

[Major Major]

People are making a lot of assumptions here and this issue is as divisive as ever. No one who believes one way or another is going to have their minds changed in regards to the intentionality of the incident. I don't know about Henderson's condition as it has not been reported on, merely speculated upon. Neither of these things matter though in regards to what is being discussed in this thread. Professional arbiters at the very height of their field who are showing bias, spoken or not, against a specific team should resign or be outright fired. There's quite a bit of smoke here, and we'll never get supporting evidence, but to gloss over this with the all mighty "human nature" is ridiculous.

[GioforPM]

Originally Posted by stang

He was retiring after that game? His plan was to retiree in chronic pain? Who knows maybe his plan was to go ref his grandsons league?

He was definitely retiring soon, according to stories. Anyway, the point is that the story has a couple holes. The larger point is that I believe there is bias, just perhaps not organized bias.

[GioforPM]

Originally Posted by Resolute 14

^Actually, that very much did happen. Whether or not Henderson had 20 games left in his officiating career or 200, Wideman's hit ended it prematurely.

That's true. It's true even if he was physically able to work.

[Erick Estrada]

Originally Posted by Resolute 14

Sure, except the referees are like cops in Cleveland and we're the black dude just trying to walk across the street in peace. Well... except Tkachuk. He's probably casing a bank to rob.

Yeah. I actually have little sympathy for Widman. I thought the hit was stupid when it happened as I feel it was his intent to cross check the official. We will never know why or what his state of mind was that caused him to lose it for a brief, regrettable moment but the film evidence is there and he committed the crime. However I don't believe the officials should be targeting the team as it's not like they encouraged Wideman to act this way. It's his fault and his only and I don't think the Flames sticking up for their player throughout the appeal as all teams would, should be grounds for NHL officiating to inflict punishment on the organization. I don't care if the officials are human as to me that's nothing more than an excuse for being unprofessional at your profession.

[sa226]

Even a year later, no one will ever convince me that Wideman intentionally cross checked a linesman from behind.

[Resolute 14]

Also of interest from Friedman's article is that he agrees with Doug McLean that the league and the union are willing to cut Vermette's suspension to five games, but it is the NHLOA pushing back. I can't fault them for it, but it does point toward the officials being far more militant than they might have been in the past.

[GoJetsGo]

Just another putrid, embarrassing night for the NHL officials in a Calgary game.

In particular, the text-book penalty shot missed on Gaudreau as well as the subsequent hook on Gio by Johnson. Not to mention, if you don't want to call a head-shot or elbow on the Tkachuk play, the puck was nowhere near him. Brutal.

If anyone is trying to assert there isn't some kind of lingering bias due to the Wideman incident, their only explanation is that the officials are embarrassingly inept at the their jobs.

It's just cringe worthy bad at this point. It's a joke.

[dino7c]

they should sit down again and ask why penalty shot rules don't apply to JG

robbed of an EN goal and robbed of a penalty shot against Tampa

meanwhile Wideman on McDavid

[Cali Panthers Fan]

LOL, calm down guys. Last night was actually a game where the referees favored the Flames. There were lots of calls they could have easily made against us that they didn't.

The Gaudreau thing is a judgement call. They didn't think he was completely clear of the defender. They still called a penalty.

The Tkachuk thing was unfortunate. There was no intent by the defender and Tkachuk got bumped by the other player into the check and his head went down slightly at the wrong time. There's pretty much nothing to call there.

I'm not saying there haven't been legitimate complaints in the past, but last night's game is a bad example of anti-Flames bias.

[GioforPM]

Originally Posted by sa226

Even a year later, no one will ever convince me that Wideman intentionally cross checked a linesman from behind.

I agree. He was never like that before (not has he been after). The linesman didn't do anything to Wideman in that game, and he didn't even seem mad about the hit. I still think he had his head down, I swear I saw him try to sidestep at the last second, and I've thought his hands came up reflexively. His lack of emotion about it right afterwards made me think he was not even thinking about any "incident". On TV, no one thought anything of it until Francis mentioned it, and no one else said anything until much later. The linesman finished the game without saying or doing anything either.

As I said before, I see how another person can see the event totally differently.

[GioforPM]

Originally Posted by Cali Panthers Fan

LOL, calm down guys. Last night was actually a game where the referees favored the Flames. There were lots of calls they could have easily made against us that they didn't.

The Gaudreau thing is a judgement call. They didn't think he was completely clear of the defender. They still called a penalty.

The Tkachuk thing was unfortunate. There was no intent by the defender and Tkachuk got bumped by the other player into the check and his head went down slightly at the wrong time. There's pretty much nothing to call there.

I'm not saying there haven't been legitimate complaints in the past, but last night's game is a bad example of anti-Flames bias.

Right after the Flames complained. Coincidence?

[Robbob]

I personally also didn't have too much of an issue last night and I think it has more to do with the transition to playoff reffing. The refs, for the most part are going to let the players decide things. Flames had 4 PP and TB 3 and really the difference was the delay of game which is as black and white as the rules go.

I didn't like the player getting the elbow/forearm up on Tkachuk, but it happened pretty quickly and it wasn't until the replay that I really saw what happened.

[RyZ]